Wednesday, September 10, 2008

The Necessity of Technology

I read the September post by Carl Fisch and I have to say I completely agree with him. I really enjoyed the following quote:
"If a teacher today is not technologically literate - and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more - it's equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read or write."
At first glance that seems like quite an over dramatic statement, but after considering it I found myself agreeing. We use reading and writing to communicate and therefore must be taught how to utilize those skills. You cannot learn from those who themselves don't know how to do it. We are increasingly becoming more dependent on technology and must learn how to utilize it in an effort to keep up with the trends of communication. If a teacher is completely deficient in such a vital area, they are not effective instructors.

This is not to say that anyone who is not computer savvy should be cast out of their job and replaced with a newer, more technologically capable version but people must be willing to adapt. It has been acceptable in the past to just say "I'm not a computer person". This is not the case anymore. Computers are an integral part of our lives and are becoming more so all the time. Teachers have a responsibility to keep up with the skills that need to be given to their students. Just because it is something they are unfamiliar with is not an acceptable excuse. They must keep an open mind and be ready to learn new concepts which is something people in the profession of education should be doing all the time anyway. A teacher would be hard pressed to force students to learn things they considered too difficult if he or she was unwilling to do it themselves.

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